I picked this beer up today at the recommendation of the guy at Hop City in Atlanta. I am not normally too big on Rye beers, but I really like DoppelBocks. Left Hand also brews some pretty good beer, so let's see what the Hop City guy knows about Rye Bocks:

Appearance: A bold pop from the cork when opened. The beer poured a pretty cloudy burnt orange color with a small head of tannish bubbles. There are quite a few bubbles rising as you can see from the active little islands on top of the beer.

Aroma: Man, the Rye is absolutely obvious in this beer! There is no doubt it is a Rye beer. Otherwise, I get some sweet caramel and some reserved toasty notes. Other than that...the Rye is king. No hops or anything else going on in the nose. As the beer is warming, the Rye is starting to soften up some, but there is some oxidation starting to show up. This isn't bad, but notable.

Taste: The flavor isn't dominated by the Rye as the aroma was. It is still a huge player, but there are other malty components co-existing with the Rye. There are sweet caramel and some toasty notes and bread crusts. The sweet malt and Rye are mixing together in the flavor to come across to me a bit like soggy bread...I don't know what that is, but that is what I think when I am drinking it. Overall the body is medium to full with a little bit of velvet in the mouthfeel which is nice. There is lots more caramel noticeable in the finish as the beer is warming up. After a few ounces, I am starting to get a little warmer, so the alcohol is reserved, but definitely present. The caramel and other notes are becoming a lot bigger player as the beer warms up further. There is some significant caramel coming out at the beer warms up further.

Opinion: This is a pretty good beer overall. I was quite concerned from the aroma at first, but as the beer sat and stabilized and warmed up, it redeemed itself. I guess all things considered, this is probably the best Rye beer that I have tried to date, so it is among about 10 or more. That said, I am not sure if I would try this beer again, but I am glad that I did. If you really like Rye, by all means, try this beer if you can find it. Otherwise, check it out if it is convenient.

Aromas of toasted malt and toffee, initially, followed by some figgy/date notes. Not picking up any rye of hops and wouldn't expect to on the hops since this is from 2008. Taste follows the nose with excellent bock characteristics. Bready, doughy, toasted caramel malts, with sweet toffee to add a slight bit of bitterness. Could also come from the rye malt as well. Dark fruits really explode on the backend here; mouthfeel is slightly slick and sweet but the lager yeast helps to allow this to finish somewhat dry. No alcohol detectable at all. Overall a very good example of a doppelbock, not too thick or malty or yeasty (banana/clovey) at all, with I had sampled sometime closer to bottling so I could get more of the rye maltiness that I have come to enjoy a lot recently.

A- Cloudy and deep amber with a nice fluffy head that settled down into very nice lacing. Not totally sure though, because its kind of dark in here. Oh well.

S- Buttery with cherries, bread, and toasted malt

T- Buttery in the taste as well with chocolate, cherries, caramel, toasty biscuit (try to say that and still sound manly), and some rye on the tail end. The rye gives it a nice slightly bitter finish. Very nice.

I had this out of a bottle that was corked and aged for three years.A- It was very bubbly, with a good head a excellent lacing. Reddish brown in color. Relatively clear.S- Very nice malt scent.T- It has a very sweet malt taste and its quite carbonated. It has a very slight bitter, sourness to it. It leaves a dry taste.

Taste: toasted malt, toffee, cherry and rye in the background that starts in the middle and lasts to the finish

Mouthfeel: sharp, very high carbonation, sweet start that gets slightly bitter in the middle as the rye starts in, and finishes sweet, medium bodied

Drinkability: I like rye beers and here the rye makes its presence known especially at the end. I will look for another bomber of this. It has the malty sweet edge that most Left hand brews have. I like the slight taste of fruit. A really interesting beer.

750ml bottle which was bottle conditioned in 2008.pours a reddish-brown which you can barely see through. generous head, over 1" on the first pour. good looking brew!

The smell is kind of off-putting. I have had this beer before over a year ago on tap a few times. I remember really enjoying it, but never noted this. It smells like a skunky lager. Like a Corona with no lime left in the sun for a couple hours.

The taste is much better than the smell. The first sip shows off the malt. Smooth and caramelized. Not as much of the dry rye finish that I remember and expect on a beer with rye malts, though its not overly sweet like a lot of doppelbocks, so the dry, peppery rye helps to balance the barley. Hops show themselves subtly. As it warms, chocolate is picked up, though it shows on the tongue, rather than in the aftertaste like a chocolate stout or porter. The aftertaste is of caramel.

Mouthfeel is excellent. Bottle-conditioning is apparent and well done. Velvety on the tongue.

Drinkability is good. Not wowed by the beer, but before I notice the bottle is empty.

Not a fan of Bocks normally, though I do like Rye beers, so this balances out to a very decent beer for my tastes. From what i remember, it had a more pronounced rye finish on tap which I would have enjoyed a bit more. Don't know if that is due to bottle conditioning, freshness, or just my memory being inaccurate.

The beer pours a dark reddish brown into the glass with a big bubbly head shaded tan that fades into a well-lacing ring after a short while.

The smell and taste are both somewhat subdued in this beer, but the characteristics of both are exactly what was expected. The pepper from the rye really melds together with the bock sweetness to create an excellent smelling and tasting beer.

The mouthfeel and drinkability are the definite superstars in this brew, just enough body to carry the abv, which seems much lower than it is...insanely drinkable, excellent beer.

2008 batch. Poured from 750 ml bottle into dimpled mug:A - Dark copper in color with tinges of red when held up to the light. Huge tan head that lasts a good while leaving fairly thick lacing.S - Milky chocolate, toasty rye, grassy hops.T - Malty flavor with notes of milk chocolate, rye followed by grassy hops.M - Medium to full mouthfeel. Subtle carbonation. Lingers for some time.D - This is much bigger than I expected. Very tasty. The fullness of flavor covers the 7.7% ABV quite nicely. For me, it's definitely not a session beer; but is worth a try.

2007 vintage. This poured a clear dark copper with lots of tan head. It smelled like sweet milk chocolate powder and spicy rye and caramel, with some bready yeast. It tasted like roasted rye and milk chocolate malts with sweet caramel and some bready yeast, along with a bit of lemon hops. It was slightly thick with some smooth carbonation, and a bitter aftertaste. Overall this was a very well constructed and tasty beer! It had a clean and distinct rye taste with lots of other nice malts too. It had great bottle conditioned body too. It hid the alcohol well and was easy to drink. I'm curious how this tastes fresh, but at 2 years it was very enjoyable!

SErved from bomber with cage/cork. Popped to champagne like bubbly explosion. Sweet nose of rye and malt. Poured a toffee brown. Light and sweet, but not overpowering with the malt. I'm not a bock fan but the rye/lager combination piqued my interest. Overall good.

M - Medium-bodied, moderately-high bordering on high carbonation. Definitely too much carbonation for the style. Touch of creaminess.

D - A little too much carbonation is interfering with the mouthfeel and the malt character could be richer and more focused with melanoidins. Not the sort of brew I'd go to repeatedly but I won't be wasting a drop tonight.

750 ml caged and corked bottle from 2007. Served in a Sam Adams Boston Glass, the beer pours a hazy red/amber color with about a half inch off-white head. Head retention is good, but not much lacing at all. The aroma is sweet and spicy, I can smell caramel malt, rye, toffee, and a little bit of grassy hops. Taste is similar to the aroma. There's rye, caramel malt, grain, dark fruit and toffee all noticable in this brew. Mouhfeel/body is chewy and a bit slick with good carbonation. Drinkability is good, it was easy to drink. Aging hasn't hurt this beer at all, I thought it was good overall. I'd buy it again in the future.

One of three bombers thrown in as extras during a fantastic trade with jtrockschalk. If you have never traded with or met this fine gentleman before, do so, if you have the opportunity. Hopefully someday I will be able to get him back for his generosity.

OK, on to the beer. I have a personal grudge against Left Hand that I won't get into, so I avoid buying their brews, but if I did, a rye would be something I'd dig. This is a velvety amber brew with a hellaciously sweet nose on it.

The taste is rather grandiose. The rye & a cascade of sweet malts are getting it on like a top-shelf Vivid flick, leaving an aftertaste of spice, sweetness, & a mild effervesence draped in a languid manner over my tongue. There is enough depth that sipping this little gem doesn't get old at all.

A touch overcarbonated, as evidenced by the gunshot that sounded as the cork popped (after it broke & I had to remove it like a fine Sonoma wine), but that's a minor complaint.

Excellent brew. Too bad I don't care for this brewery, because they make some good swill.